System and method for delivering geographically restricted content, such as over-air broadcast programming, to a recipient over a network, namely the internet

ABSTRACT

A system and method for delivering geographically restricted content, including but not limited to over-air broadcast programming, to a recipient over a computer network, namely the Internet. The content is only delivered over the computer network if the recipient&#39;s computer or network device requesting the content over the network is verified to be located in the geographically restricted area. A conventional tuner is employed by the recipient&#39;s computer to receive one or more over-air signals having a broadcast range deemed to be synonymous with the geographically restricted area for the requested content. If the tuner is able to receive such over-air signal(s), the requested content is delivered over the network to the recipient&#39;s computer. This is because the recipient is known to be physically located in the geographically restricted area by the ability of the tuner to receive the over-air signal(s).

PRIORITY APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation patent application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/682,600, filed Mar. 6, 2007, entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING GEOGRAPHICALLY RESTRICTED CONTENT,SUCH AS OVER-AIR BROADCAST PROGRAMMING, TO A RECIPIENT OVER A COMPUTERNETWORK, NAMELY THE INTERNET,” the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for deliveringgeographically restricted content, including but not limited to over-airbroadcast programming, to a recipient computing device over a computernetwork, namely the Internet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Television and radio broadcasting is regulated in the United States andabroad due to the limited frequencies available for transmission. As aresult, any person or entity that wishes to operate a television orradio broadcast station in the United States must apply for and receivea government-issued license in order to reserve a transmission frequencyfor its broadcast signal. Broadcast licenses granted by the FCC providea geographic scope or area that limits the permissible range of eachstation's broadcast signal. The broadcast station must configure itsbroadcast signal to limit the broadcast signal range to the geographicscope of the license. A recipient's tuner must typically be within thegeographic scope of the broadcaster's license to properly receive theover-air broadcast signal from the local broadcast station.

From a technology standpoint, cable providers can retransmit localbroadcast programming over a physical line such as coaxial cable havinga known geographic reach or area. This method of controllingdistribution of a cable signal enables the cable provider to meet thegeographic restrictions on local broadcast programming. Satelliteproviders are able to retransmit broadcast signals to dedicatedreceivers pre-programmed with a particular customer billing address. Inthis way, technology is used to limit customer access to program withingeographic restrictions in place on such local broadcast programming.

Today, consumers often receive digital content via the Internet ratherthan using tuners to receive over-air signals. Content and programminginformation such as national or local news, weather, financialinformation, sports information and entertainment programming can beobtained by visiting any number of websites. Songs and movies arecommonly ordered and either downloaded or streamed over the Internet toa recipient's computer for playing or viewing. Currently a localbroadcast station does not have available technology to supply over-airbroadcasts over the Internet and restrict such Internet viewing to alimited geographic area. This is because Internet access is notgeographically limiting like over-air reception, and therefore, anInternet user physically located in the local broadcast station's areaof license cannot be distinguished from a recipient physically locatedoutside such area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for deliveringgeographically restricted content, including but not limited to over-airbroadcast programming content, to a recipient computing device over acomputer network, namely the Internet. The content is only deliveredover the computer network if the recipient's computer or network devicerequesting the content over the network is verified to be located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content. A conventionaltuner is employed by the recipient's computer to receive one or moreover-air signals having a broadcast range deemed to be synonymous withor sufficiently proximate to the geographically restricted area for therequested content. If the tuner is able to receive such over-airsignal(s), the requested content is delivered over the network to therecipient's computer. This is because the recipient is known to bephysically located in the geographically restricted area by the abilityof the tuner to receive the over-air signal(s). If a recipient is notlocated in the geographically restricted area for the requested content,the tuner will not be able to receive the over-air signal(s)representative of the recipient being located in the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content. Thus, a recipient's computingdevice that is not able to receive the over-air signal confirming therecipient is within the geographically restricted area will not receivethe requested content over the computer network.

One or more content servers are employed to distribute thegeographically restricted content to a requesting recipient over thecomputer network. A broadcast station may actually provide the contentserver. In this regard, the broadcast station provides one or moreservers coupled to a computer network to host requests for streamingand/or downloading the requested content to requesting recipients overthe computer network. The server(s) may be accessible by InternetProtocol (IP) addressing. The distributed content may be over-airbroadcast programming from a broadcast station, or any other typecontent, such as audio files and video presentations as examples. Thecontent requested for delivery over the computer network may be the samecontent broadcasted by the broadcast station over the air within thegeographic limitations of the broadcast station's FCC license. Ifpermitted, the content is packaged by the content server into datapackets and sent out over the computer network to the requestingrecipient. Receiving over-air broadcast programming content over acomputer network will not typically suffer from broadcast receptionrelated issues, which may be caused by interference or less than optimalbroadcast signal coverage from the broadcast station's antennas.

The recipient employs a computer or other network device coupled to thecomputer network to request access to the content from the contentservers(s). The recipient's computer may employ a browser that accessesthe content server(s) via a uniform resource location (URL) web addresstranslated into the IP address of the content server. Information aboutover-air signals received by the tuner coupled to the recipient computeris used to determine whether or not the recipient is physically locatedin the area represented by the geographic restriction for the requestedcontent.

The tuner associated with the recipient computer may be adapted toreceiver over-air broadcast signals from a broadcast station as theparticular type of over-air signal(s). The present invention and tunerare not limited to receiving an over-air broadcast signal(s) as theparticular type of over-air signal(s) used to determine if a recipientis located in the geographically restricted area for the requestedcontent. If the tuner is adapted to receiver over-air broadcastsignal(s) as the method of determining if the recipient is located inthe geographically restricted area for the requested content, the tunermay be a radio tuner (e.g. FM (i.e. 88-108 Mhz) or AM (i.e. 500-1500kHz), a television signal tuner (e.g. UHF (i.e. 470 to 806 MHz), VHF(i.e. 54-72, MHz, 76-88 MHz, and 174-216 MHz)), or both, in oneembodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, “RadioBroadcasting Data Service” (RBDS) information is extracted from areceived over-air FM radio broadcast signal to determine if therecipient computer is physically located within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content. Station information Service”(SIS) data embedded in a high-definition (HD) radio broadcast signal mayalso be used to identify the broadcast station and determine if therecipient computer is physically located within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content. In another embodiment, thetuner or recipient computer extracts “Program and System InformationProtocol” (PSIP) information, and more specifically the transport streamidentifier (TSID) information, or the broadcast station call letters(for digital television), identifying the broadcast station from anover-air television broadcast signal to determine if the recipientcomputer is physically located within the geographically restricted areafor the requested content. The television broadcast signal may be ananalog or digital signal. Using RBDS, SIS, or PSIP data to determine abroadcast station identification may be a preferred method to determinethe physical location of the recipient computer, because thisinformation is typically already included by the broadcast station inradio and television broadcast signals without having to employmodifications to existing broadcasting equipment. However, the broadcaststation can also purposefully insert an analog or digital signal or flagin over-air broadcast signals that can be extracted by the tuner toidentify the broadcasting station and thus the location of the recipientcomputer in lieu of using embedded RBDS, SIS, and/or PSIP information.

The tuner associated with the recipient computer may also oralternatively be adapted to receiver over-air signals havingtransmission frequencies outside AM/FM/UHF/VHF broadcast signalfrequencies. For example, “Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess” (WiMAX) is a standard to enable the delivery of “last mile”wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable or DSL broadbandaccess. WiMAX has a range of up to thirty miles with a typical cellradius of four to six miles. Either receipt of a WiMAX signal, or aspecial coding or signal embedded into a WiMAX signal, may be receivedover-air by a tuner associated with the recipient computer to determineif the recipient computer is located in the geographically restrictedarea for the requested content. Other examples include signals in the700 MHz spectrum, which may be utilized to deliver content to mobilephones. The 700 MHZ spectrum includes signals that can be broadcast bytelevision broadcast stations like UHF and VHF signals, but is aspectrum that may television broadcast stations have vacated or nolonger use for programming broadcasts. The present invention is notlimited to any particular type of over-air signal to determine if therecipient's computer is located in the geographically restricted areafor the requested content.

The tuner may be embedded within a recipient computer, or provided inthe form of a peripheral device coupled to the recipient computer. Forexample, the tuner may contain a universal serial bus (USB) connectionthat plugs into a USB port on the recipient computer. The tuner may beconfigured to constantly receive and provide information about receiptof over-air broadcasting signal(s) for verification of the recipient'sphysical location within the geographically restricted area of therequested content. Over-air signal criteria is provided to the tuner todetermine which over-air signal(s) to “tune in to” consistent with thegeographically restricted area of the requested content. Over-airinformation, based on receipt of information embedded in a tunedover-air signal, is used for verification of the recipient's physicallocation and may be constantly provided by the recipient's computer tothe content server(s) as a condition for continued streaming of contentto the recipient's computer.

Other optional methods may be employed to ensure a recipient is locatedin the geographically restricted area of the requested content. Thesemethods include, but are not limited to, requiring a recipient to entercredit or debit card information for accessing and/or verification ofthe recipient's billing address, determining the recipient's locationusing a GPS receiver coupled to the recipient computer, and/or usingreverse IP address lookup on the IP address assigned to the recipientcomputer.

The recipient's computer may access content, including but not limitedto over-air broadcast programming, from the content server(s) usingbrowser-based web services, or using an application programminginterface (API) software application downloaded from the contentserver(s) to the recipient computer. The recipient may also be requiredto first establish a user account with the content server beforegeographically restricted content can be accessed over the network. Theaccount information may include user identification and/or billinginformation. Identification and billing information may be used to billthe recipient for access to content over the network and/or to provideuser specific advertising to fund, either wholly or partially, thebusiness model and expenses of the broadcasting station providing thecontent and/or over-air broadcast programming over the computer network.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentinvention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a broadcast content network delivery systemin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating verification that a recipient islocated in the geographically restricted area of the requested contentas a condition of receiving content over a network;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating communications between a receiver,a local tuner, and a broadcast station content server, for delivery ofcontent over a network, wherein the broadcast station server initiallyprovides the over-air signal acquisition criteria to be acquired by thetuner for verification that the recipient is physically located withinthe geographically restricted area for the requested content;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a typical tuner for receiving radio (i.e. AM,FM) and/or television (i.e. UHF, VHF) broadcasts signals as oneembodiment of a received over-air signal to verify if a recipient islocated within the geographically restricted area of the requestedcontent;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating extraction of embedded broadcaststation identification information within an over-air broadcast signalreceived by a tuner to verify if a recipient is located within thegeographically restricted area of the requested content;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating “Radio Broadcast Data System” (RBDS)information embedded in the FM subcarrier spectrum of an over-air FMbroadcast signal;

FIG. 7 is a table illustrating data groups present within RBDS data;

FIG. 8 illustrates a data format for a RBDS data group type within RBDSdata embedded in an over-air broadcast signal, wherein programidentification (PI) information is included to uniquely identify the FMbroadcast station transmitting the over-air FM broadcast signal;

FIG. 9 illustrates “Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) dataembedded within an over-air television (TV) broadcast signal;

FIG. 10 illustrates information included within PSIP data, includingidentification information that uniquely identifies a TV broadcaststation;

FIG. 11 is an alternative flow diagram to the flow diagram illustratedin FIG. 3, wherein the recipient's computer obtains the over-air signalacquisition information from a local tuner before requesting contentfrom a content server;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating communications between areceiver, a local tuner, and a content server, for establishing arecipient account at the content server before requested content isdelivered over a computer network;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating additionally verifying a recipient'scredit or debit card billing address information to verify if arecipient is within the geographically restricted area of the requestedcontent;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating additionally verifying a recipient'sphysical location via a GPS receiver to verify if a recipient is locatedwithin the geographically restricted area of the requested content;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating additionally verifying a recipient'sphysical location via a reverse Internet Protocol (IP) address lookup toverify if a recipient is located within the geographically restrictedarea of the requested content; and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating additionally verifying a recipient'sphysical location via an Automated Number Identifier (ANI) lookup of therecipient to verify if a recipient is located within the geographicallyrestricted area of the requested content.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

The present invention is a system and method for deliveringgeographically restricted content, including but not limited to over-airbroadcast programming content, to a recipient computing device over acomputer network, namely the Internet. The content is only deliveredover the computer network if the recipient's computer or network devicerequesting the content over the network is verified to be located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content. A conventionaltuner is employed by the recipient's computer to receive one or moreover-air signals having a broadcast range deemed to be synonymous withor sufficiently proximate to the geographically restricted area for therequested content. If the tuner is able to receive such over-airsignal(s), the requested content is delivered over the network to therecipient's computer. This is because the recipient is known to bephysically located in the geographically restricted area by the abilityof the tuner to receive the over-air signal(s). If a recipient is notlocated in the geographically restricted area for the requested content,the tuner will not be able to receive the over-air signal(s)representative of the recipient being located in the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content. Thus, a recipient's computingdevice that is not able to receive the over-air signal confirming therecipient is within the geographically restricted area will not receivethe requested content over the computer network.

The geographically restricted area for the requested content may be a“Designated Market Area” (DMA) for the content. In other words, therequested content may have a DMA by regulation, geographic restrictionsin accordance with compulsory license restrictions, and/or geographicrestrictions according to rights content owners. The geographicallyrestricted area may also be called or known as a “signal area.” The term“geographically restricted area” is used throughout this application toinclude, but not limited to, a DMA or a signal area.

Broadcast Content Network Delivery System

FIG. 1 illustrates a broadcast content network delivery system 10 for anexample of one embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment,the content server(s) is provided by a broadcast station, and theover-air signal(s) received is an over-air broadcast signal(s). Receiptof the over-air broadcast signal(s) is used to determine if therecipient is in the geographically restricted area of the requestedcontent is an over-air broadcast signal. Again, the present invention isnot limited to the content being provided by a broadcast station, thebroadcast station providing the content server(s), or the over-airsignal(s) being an over-air broadcast signal(s). A broadcast stationproviding the content server, and an over-air broadcast signal beingused to determine if the recipient is within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content, are simply variations orspecific examples for possible embodiments of the present invention.

A recipient 12, also called a “user,” can remotely request content,including but not limited to an over-air broadcast signal 14 containingprogramming, via a communication/computer network 20, such as theInternet, from a broadcast station 16. The broadcast station 16 may beany type of broadcast station that broadcasts over-air signals,including but not limited to FM radio and television. The recipient 12employs a networked computing device 18, such as but not limited to apersonal computer, a user computer, and a television set top box, torequest content. The user 12 controls the computing device 18 to requestcontent over the computer network 20. In a preferred embodiment, thenetworked computer device 18 is a user personal computer 18, alsoreferred to as “user computer” 18, and the computer network 20 is theInternet, which may be a TCP/IP-based network. The user computer 18 mayalso take the form of a mobile device, a cellular phone, a personaldigital assistant, (PDA), and a personal messaging device (PMP) as otherexamples. The network 20 may be a remote communication link or any typeof network, and may include any type of communication protocol,including but not limited to telephone dial-up, wireless, digitalsubscribe line (DSL), cable modem, etc. The user computer 18 employsTCP/IP-based communications to send and receive messages over thenetwork 20.

The user computer 18 either includes a local tuner 22 to receiveover-air broadcast signals 14. The tuner 22 is either internal to theuser computer 18 or coupled via an external connection to the usercomputer 18. When the user 12 requests network access to geographicallyrestricted content from the broadcast station 16, the user computer 18establishes a network connection to the network 20 via an InternetService Provider (ISP) 24. The user computer 18 communicates data packetmessages using a IP address established for a broadcast station server28 as the destination address. The ISP 24 communicates data packetmessages from the user computer 18 over the network 20 to an ISP 26 usedby the broadcast station 16, which is turn relays the messages to one ormore content or broadcast station servers 28 “sitting” on the broadcaststation's 16 IP address. The broadcast station server 28 establishesconnections or sessions, using services such as web services or anapplication program interface (API) software, with user computers 18 toreceive requests and provide access to content provided by the broadcaststation 16, including but not limited to over-air programming. Thebroadcast station server(s) 28 is adapted to provide content-basedprogramming and/or services to the user 12, as will be discussedthroughout this application. This content may be streamed from adelivery network, or may be accessed from a memory database if thecontent was previously recorded and stored.

Note that the present invention is not limited to broadcast programmingcontent in particular. The present invention may be employed todistribute other types of content, including but not limited to audioprogramming, songs, video programming, and video presentations, asexamples. Further note that the present invention is not limited to thecontent server 28 being provided by a broadcast station 16. The contentserver 28 could include a corporate server, an audio server, a videoserver, an audio/video server, and a music server as other examples. Thecomputer network 20 is not limited to a TCP/IP-based network. Thecomputer network 20 may be a content delivery network, a dedicated linenetwork, a public network, a private network, a corporate network or apublic switched telephone network (PSTN), as examples.

In the preferred embodiment, the broadcast station server 28 is coupledto over-air programming content 32 transmitted over-air by the broadcaststation 16. In this manner, the broadcast station server 28 can eitherstore the over-air programming content 32 in the database 30 to provideto the user 12 at a later time, or provide streaming of over-airbroadcast programming content 32 in real-time to the user computer 18over the network 20. The broadcast station server 28 can be programmed,via a local terminal 34, by broadcast station personnel to set variousoptions and features regarding performance and delivery options forproviding content to user computers 18 over the network 20.

Prior to the present invention, the broadcast station 16 typically onlycommunicated over-air programming content 32 to a control system 38. Thecontrol system 38 passed the content 32 to a modulator 40 to modulatethe content 32 onto a carrier signal having the desired frequency toform a modulated broadcast signal. The modulated broadcast signal isamplified by a power amplifier 42. The amplified over-air broadcastsignal 14 is communicated to an antenna tower 44 that broadcasts theamplified over-air broadcast signal 14 over-air in the vicinity of thebroadcast station 16 according to the power output levels of the poweramplifier 42 and the antenna tower 44 design. For some broadcaststations, where obstructions such as mountains may be located in thebroadcast area, one or more translators 46, which include receivers 48for receiving the over-air broadcast signal 14 and power amplifiers 50for amplifying the received over-air broadcast signal 14, may beemployed to carry the over-air broadcast signal 14 further out from thebroadcast station 16 according to the geographically restricted areapermitted under the broadcast station's FCC license.

Note that translators 46 are separately licensed by the FCC and thuscarry their own unique identifier. This unique identifier can still beemployed to determine if the user computer 18 is located in thegeographically restricted area for the required content. For theremainder of this application, reference to identifying the broadcaststation 16 is used to either refer to identification of the broadcaststation 16, or the identifier of the translator 46, without distinction.Both are included methods of the present invention.

With the present invention, a user 12 can also receive this sameover-air programming content 32 broadcast by the broadcast station 16,over the computer network 20 in addition to receiving the programmingcontent 32 by over-air reception via the over-air broadcast signal 14.The tuner 22 is coupled to the user computer 18 and receives theover-air broadcast signal 14. The over-air broadcast signal 14 containsinformation that identifies the broadcast station 16 transmitting theover-air broadcast signal 14. Thus, the area where the tuner 22 and usercomputer 18 are physically located can be determined by identifying thebroadcast station 16. If the tuner 22 can receive the over-air broadcastsignal 14, this is an indication that the tuner 22 and the user computer18 are geographically located in the broadcast range of the broadcaststation 16. In response, the broadcast station server 28 authorizes theover-air broadcast programming content 32 to be provided over thenetwork 20 to the user computer 18.

Because the broadcast range of the broadcast station 16 is controlled tobe within a designated geographic licensing range permitted by the FCC,the tuner 22, by its receipt of the over-air broadcast signal 14, andthe user computer 18 are likewise known to be in the licensing range ofthe broadcast station 16. The user computer 18 is permitted to receiveover-air broadcast programming content 32 from the broadcast station 16in this instance. Receipt of over-air broadcast programming content 32via the computer network 20 may be more desirable. For example, poorsignal reception, which may be caused by interference or less thanoptimal broadcast signal coverage from the broadcast station's antennas44, may prevent less than optimal reception using a traditional tuner.Receiving over-air broadcast programming content 32 over the computernetwork 20 will not suffer from broadcast reception related issues ifsufficient bandwidth exists on the computer network 20.

Note the broadcast station 16 and broadcast station server 28 embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment. The present inventionis applicable to any content server that desires to communicategeographically restricted content over a computer network. The contentmay be broadcast programming or any other type of content orprogramming.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the high level operation of thepresent invention. That is, verification of the user's 12 geographiclocation as a condition of receiving geographically restricted contentfrom the broadcast station 16 over the network 20. The content may beover-air broadcast programming content 32 or other programming content.The process starts (step 60), and the user 12 directs the user computer18 to request content from the broadcast station server 28 (step 62).The content may be geographically restricted by the broadcast station 16and/or by its FCC license. The user computer 18 sends a data packetmessage to the broadcast station server 28 using the URL address of thebroadcast station server 28. The broadcast station server 28 receivesthe request over the network 20 and determines if the requested contentis geographically restricted (decision 64). If not, the broadcaststation server 28 permits the downloading or streaming of the contentover the network 20 to the user computer 18 (step 66).

If the requested content is geographically restricted, it is determinedif the user computer 18 is located in the geographically restricted areafor the requested content (decision 68). This is determined based on theability of the user computer 18, employing the tuner 22, to receive anover-air broadcast signal 14 transmitted within the geographicallyrestricted area. If the user computer 18 is not located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content, access isdenied (step 70), and the process ends (step 74). If the user computer18 is located in the geographically restricted area for the requestedcontent, the broadcast station server 28 downloads or streams therequested content over the computer network 20 to the user computer 18(step 66) until the request is fully performed and/or the sessionestablished by the user computer 18 is no longer active (decision 72).

The remainder of the description of this application explains thevarious methods by which the user computer 18 and broadcast station 16interact to access geographically restricted content from the broadcaststation 16 over the network 20. The content may be over-air broadcastprogramming content 32 broadcast by the broadcast station 16 as theover-air broadcast signal 14, or other content generated either locallyat the broadcast station 16 or retrieved from external sources. Variousmethods may be employed to analyze over-air broadcast signals 14received by the tuner 22 to determine the physical location of the tuner22 and thus the user computer 18. Additional methods may be employed inaddition to analyzing over-air broadcast signal(s) 14 received by thetuner 22 to ensure that the user 12 and the user computer 18 arephysically located in the geographically restricted area of thebroadcast station's 16 license from which the requested geographicallyrestricted content is obtained over the network 20, as opposed toover-air reception.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating more detailed communicationsbetween the user computer 18, the tuner 22, and the broadcast stationserver 28, for delivery of content over the network 20. In thisembodiment, the broadcast station server 28 initially provides over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria. The over-air broadcast signalacquisition criteria are instructions for the tuner 22 to receive one orcertain over-air broadcast signal(s) 14 deemed to be synonymous with thearea geographic restriction for the requested content. The tuner 22provides over-air broadcast signal acquisition information in responseto attempting to tune in the over-air broadcast signal(s) 14 accordingto the instructions provided in the over-air broadcast signalacquisition criteria. If the tuner 22 successful receives the over-airbroadcast signal(s) 14 according to the over-air broadcast signalacquisition criteria, the user 12 and the user computer 18 are verifiedas being physically located in the geographically restricted area forthe requested content. This verification is required for the broadcaststation server 28 to provide the content to the user computer 18 overthe network 20.

The user computer 18 first makes a download request for the programmingcontent to the broadcast station server 28 over the network 20,typically using either web-based services or API software previouslydownloaded to the user computer 18, from the broadcast station server 28(step 80). The broadcast station server 28 determines whether therequested content is geographically restricted (step 82). If so, thebroadcast station server 28 retrieves the over-air broadcast signalacquisition criteria from the database 30, which is information aboutone or more over-air broadcast signals 14 to be acquired by the tuner 22having the same or equivalent broadcast range as the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content (step 84). The over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria is provided to the user computer18, so that tuner 22 can be controlled to tune in to the designatedover-air broadcast signal(s) 14 to determine if the user computer 18 isphysically located in the licensing area of the requested programmingcontent (step 86). Note that the over-air broadcast signal acquisitioncriteria does not have to include the same broadcast signal that carriesthe requested content; it may or may not.

Next, the user computer 18 communicates an over-air broadcastacquisition request to the tuner 22 using the over-air broadcast signalacquisition criteria received from the broadcast station server 28 (step88). The tuner 22 returns over-air broadcast signal acquisitioninformation back to the user computer 18 indicating whether the over-airbroadcast signal(s) 14 provided by the broadcast station server 28 inthe over-air broadcast acquisition criteria could be accessed (step 90).The user computer 18 processes over-air broadcast signal acquisitioninformation received from the tuner 22 (step 92). A flag within the usercomputer 18 may be set or updated to indicate successful reception ofthe over-air broadcast signal 14 or identifying information embeddedtherein by the tuner 22 to prove the user computer 18 is within thegeographically restricted area for the requested content. This isbecause the system may use information embedded within the over-airbroadcast signal 14 received by the tuner 22 rather than reception ofthe signal 14 itself. Various methods of obtaining embedded informationwithin the over-air broadcast signal 14 can be used to provideidentifying information to determine the geographic location of thetuner 22 and thus the user computer 18, and will be discussed in moredetail below.

The over-air broadcast signal acquisition information received from thetuner 22 is communicated to the broadcast station server 28 forprocessing (step 94). The broadcast station server 28 determines if theover-air broadcast acquisition information was obtained for thegeographically restricted area for the requested content (step 96). Ifso, the requested content is downloaded or streamed over the network 20to the user computer 18 (step 98). From there, the process iterates byrepeating steps 88 through 98 to continue receiving over-air broadcastacquisition information from the tuner 22, and providing thisinformation to the broadcast station server 28 as a condition ofcontinued receipt of requested content. This continues until the usercomputer's 18 session with the broadcast station server 28 is terminated(steps 102, 104).

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a local tuner 22 that may beemployed to receive over-air broadcast signals 14 as a method ofobtaining identifying information about the broadcaster sufficient todetermine if the user computer's 18 is located in a geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content. The tuner 22 may be an AM,FM, UHF, or VHF tuner as examples, or any combination of such. The tuner22 includes a receiver 110 that is coupled to an antenna 112 to receivethe over-air broadcast signal 14. The received signal 14 is amultiplexed signal containing digital data and the programming contentwithin the subcarrier frequency. The received signal is split into twopaths. If the signal is to be viewed or is a stereo audio signal forexample, the signal is decoded using a stereo decoder 118 and providedto output amplifiers 120 to amplify the signal and provide it tospeakers 122A, 122B.

The received signal is also coupled to a data decoder 124 to extractdigital data embedded within the over-air broadcast signal 14. Thisdigital data may include identifying information about the broadcaststation that is responsible for the over-air broadcast signal 14transmission, such as identifying information embedded in “RadioBroadcast Data Service” (RBDS), “Station Information Service” (SIS), or“Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) data for example. Thedigital data is provided to a microprocessor 126 via data lines 128.From there, the digital data can be communicated to an optional display136. The digital data can be also stored in memory 130 and iscommunicated externally from the tuner 22, through an input/outputbuffer 132, to the user computer 18 in the form of over-air broadcastsignal acquisition information 134. This over-air broadcast signalacquisition information 134 is information noted in the flow diagram ofFIG. 3 that may be communicated to the broadcast station server 28 todetermine if the user computer 18 is physically located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps used to verify the usercomputer 18 being located in the geographically restricted area of therequested content based on the over-air broadcast signal acquisitioncriteria and receipt of over-air broadcast signal acquisitioninformation 134 in response thereto, from the tuner 22. The process isemployed as part of the decision in step 68 in FIG. 2. First, theover-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134 is received fromthe tuner 22, such as described in FIG. 4 above (step 140). The over-airbroadcast signal acquisition information 134 may be the actual broadcastsignal, or other analog or digital data embedded in the over-airbroadcast signal 14 in the subcarrier frequency. Whatever type ofover-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria is employed,geographic-based information is extracted from the over-air broadcastsignal 14 based on the over-air broadcast signal acquisition criteriasought for analysis (step 142). The geographically-based information maybe the identification of the broadcast station 16 responsible forbroadcasting the received over-air broadcast signal(s) 14.

Next, it is determined if the extracted geographic information indicatesthat the tuner 22, and thus the user computer 18, is located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content. If so, a flagmay be set to indicate that the user computer 18 and/or the session withthe broadcast station server 28 is authorized to receive the requestedcontent over the network 20 (step 146). If not, the process goes to step70 of FIG. 2, where access to the requested content is denied, since thegeographic location of the user computer 18 could not be verified asbeing physically located in the geographically restricted area for therequested content.

“Radio Broadcasting Data Server” (RBDS) Station Identification

The standard for the “Radio Broadcast Data System” (RBDS) adopted by theNational Radio Systems Committee in NRSC-4 requires FM radiobroadcasters to provide their unique FCC call sign in the form of ahexadecimal Program Identification (PI) code. Thus, extraction of the PIcode from an over-air FM broadcast signal can be used to identify thebroadcast station 16 band thus determine the location of the usercomputer 18 to control granting access to geographically restrictedcontent. The PI code is transmitted as the first block in every datagroup of the RBDS data, making it the most frequently repeated data.This allows for shorter and more reliable acquisition of the PI code.

FIG. 6 illustrates RBDS data 154 embedded in a FM broadcast signal 150carried at a carrier station frequency 152. Receipt of a FM broadcastsignal by a RBDS compatible tuner 22 is one method to determine if theuser computer 18 is located in the geographically restricted area forthe requested content as a condition of delivering such content over thecomputer network 20. The RBDS data 154 is included in a 57 kHzsubcarrier frequency at 1187.5 bits per second. The 57 kHz frequency waschosen for being the third harmonic of the pilot tone for FM stereo sothat the RBDS data 154 would not cause interference or intermodulationwith the pilot tone, or the stereo difference signal at 38 KHz (e.g.second harmonic of pilot tone). In the example of RBDS, RBDS data 154contains digital data that includes the broadcast station'sidentification call letters. Thus, the originating broadcaster of anover-air broadcast signal 14 can be determined by analyzing the RBDSdata 154.

FIG. 7 illustrates a RBDS table 156 providing the various RBDS datagroup types 158 with the RBDS and a description of their use 160. TheRBDS data group types 158 are digital data structures containinginformation embedded in the RBDS data 154 within the FM broadcast signal150. While each RBDS data group 158 has its own specific purpose anddata format, it is important to note that each data group messagecontains program identification (PI), which is the uniquely assignedcall letters for the broadcast station 16 transmitting the FM broadcastsignal 150 (e.g. WRAL-FM).

An example of this is shown in FIG. 8, which is the data format for RBDSgroup type 10A, or a program type name (PTYN) 162. There, it is shownthat a PI field 164 is the header of the data for the PTYN data 162. ThePI field 164 contains the “PI code.” This information can be extractedby the tuner 22 and/or the user computer 18 to identify the broadcaststation 16. For example, if the PI field 164 contains the call letters“WRAL-FM,” this means that the originator of the received FM broadcastsignal 150 is the WRAL broadcast station 16 located in Raleigh, N.C. Adatabase can be accessed to correlate the broadcast station 16identification information in the PI field 164 with the FCC mandatedbroadcast area of broadcast station 16. This information can be used,such as by the tuner 22, the user computer 18, and/or the broadcaststation server 28, to determine the physical location of the usercomputer 18 (i.e. Raleigh, N.C. area for PI information “WRAL-FM”). Thisis because the tuner 22 must be physically located in the broadcast areaof the broadcast station 16 to receive its over-air FM broadcast signal150.

More information on RBDS can be found at “The Radio Data System “RDS” inEurope and the Radio Broadcast Data System “RBDS” in the USA—What arethe differences and how can receivers cope with both systems,” athttp://www.rds.org.uk/rdsfrdsrbds.html, and the definition of Radio DataSystem in Wikipedia® at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data System,both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

“Station Information Service” (SIS)

A high definition (HD) over-air radio broadcast signal may also be usedto identify the broadcast station 16. The standard forIn-band/On-channel Digital Radio Broadcasting adopted by the NationalRadio Systems Committee in NRSC-5-A, commonly referred to as “HD Radio,”allows for AM/FM radio station broadcasters to provide their unique FCCcall sign, FCC facility number, and three-dimensional geographic stationlocation within “Station Information Service” (SIS) data. SIS data istransmitted via a dedicated logical channel within the RF/transmissionsubsystem. The standard specifically states that “SIS can be considereda built-in service that is readily available on all IBOC digital radiostations.” For more information on SIS, see the National Radio SystemsCommittee document, NRSC-5-A 5.1.2 Sep. 2005, incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

“Nielsen's Audio Encoding Technique” (NAVE) Coding

Other audio encoding techniques may be embedded FM radio broadcastsignals by broadcast stations 16 to determine the location of the user12 and the user computer 18, and thus whether the user computer 18 islocated in the geographically restricted area for the requested content.For example, the Nielsen's Audio Video Encoding Technique (NAVE), whichis more fully disclosed in “The Nielsen Audio Video Encoder (NAVE)Questions & Answers,” athttp://www.nielsenmedia.com/forclients/APMeter/file/NAVEOA.pdf andincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, embeds a very smallamount of audio energy in louder portions of an audio signal to ensurethe non-audibility of the code. The tuner 22 can decode a received audiobroadcast signal to retrieve the NAVE code, if present, if the NAVE codeis used as the over-air broadcast acquisition criteria. The NAVE codingsurvives AC-3 and MPEG-2 compression encoding.

“Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) Station Identification

In a similar manner, a television broadcast over-air signal (e.g. highdefinition signal), or information embedded therein, may be used as theover-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria to determine if the usercomputer 18 is located in the geographically restricted area for therequested content. Similar to radio broadcast signals, data may beincluded or embedded in television broadcast signals. In particular,“Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) data 170 is embedded ina digital television broadcast signal, and may also be embedded in ananalog television signal. Within PSIP data 170 a transport streamidentifier (TSID) is an included number that is unique to each broadcaststation (e.g. WRAL is 1850). PSIP 170 data embedded in a digitaltelevision broadcast signal also includes the unique “call letters” ofthe broadcast station (e.g. “WRAL”). FIG. 9 illustrates the varioustypes of information within the PSIP data 170 that is embedded in eitheran analog or digital television broadcast signal, and the various cycletimes in which the PSIP data 170 is included.

Master Guide Table (MGT) data 172 is included in the PSIP data 170 whichprovides information on all the other PSIP tables, including table sizesand version numbers of updatable tables. The Virtual Channel Table(TVCT) data 174 provides information on all the channels that are orwill be on line, including such items as channel name, navigationidentifier, stream components and types. Event Information Table (EIT)data 176 is included for each event or TV program associated with eachof the virtual channels. Each EIT covers a period of three hours. Thetotal number of EITs available is one hundred twenty eight. EIT-0 data174 covers the current programs, EIT-1 covers the next three hours, andso on. System Time Table (STT) data 178 fits in one MPEG packet, andprovides time-of-day information. Rating Region Table (RRT) data 180 isdesigned to transmit program rating information for any country that mayadopt the standard.

FIG. 10 illustrates information from the PSIP data 170 that can bedisplayed on a tuner display as an example of the information containedin the PSIP data 170 for digital television. The short name for thetelevision broadcast station (e.g. WRAL) is contained within the TVCTdata 174. The major and minor digital television channel being receivedis also contained within the TVCT data 174. The television program name,called an “event title,” is contained within the EIT data 176. Therating for the television program is contained within the RRT data 180.The event or television program descriptor providing information aboutthe program is contained within the EIT data 176. The current time anddate information is contained within the STT data 178. This data isextracted and used by the television tuner to provide time-basedfunctions and programming for the user 12.

More information on PSIP is disclosed in “ATSC Recommended Practice:Program and System Information Protocol Implementation Guidelines forBroadcasters,” found at http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_(—)69.pdf, whichis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Note that forembodiment of the present invention that use an over-air broadcastsignal 14 as the particular type of signal to determine if the usercomputer 18 is in the geographically restricted area of the requestedcontent, the present invention is not limited to a particular type ofover-air broadcast signal being used. Also note that the presentinvention is not limited to retrieval of embedded RBDS data, SIS data,PSIP data, or NAVE coding data. Any type of special coding or data maybe included in the over-air broadcast signal to by received by the tuner22 associated with the user computer 18, including but not limited toaudio coding data, video coding data, analog coding data, and digitalcoding data.

In summary for the over-air signal being an over-air broadcast signal 14embodiment, the tuner 22 coupled to the user computer 18 can be providedwith over-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria. The over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria provide instructions on whichover-air broadcast signal(s) 14 for the tuner 22 to access, to confirmthe user computer 18 is physically located in the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content, before requested content istransmitted by a broadcast station server 28 over the network 20, suchas the Internet. The tuner 22 is able to obtain information within thereceived over-air broadcast signal 14 that identifies the broadcastingstation 16 and provides the identification information in the form ofover-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134. If the broadcaststation 16 is identified as having a broadcast range within orsynonymous to the geographically restricted area for the requestedcontent, it is known that the user computer 18 is physically located inthe geographically restricted area for the restricted content sufficientfor the content to be communicated over the network 20 to the usercomputer 18.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment to theflow diagram illustrated in FIG. 3 for delivery of requested contentover the network 20. In this embodiment, the user computer 18 requestsover-air broadcast signal acquisition information from the tuner 22,using the over-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria, beforerequesting content from the broadcast station server 28. The over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria may be stored in the memory of theuser computer 18. In this manner, the user computer 18 can provide theover-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria, which identifies thelocation of the user computer 18 by broadcast area, to the broadcaststation server 28 on the initial content request rather than thebroadcast station server 28 having to first provide the over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria to the user computer 18, asprovided in the flow diagram in FIG. 3.

The process starts by the user computer 18 requesting over-air broadcastsignal acquisition information 134 from the tuner 22 based on theover-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria. The over-air broadcastsignal acquisition information 134 is used to verify the user computer18 location as previously discussed (step 200). The tuner 22 returns theover-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134 obtained, based onthe over-air broadcast acquisition criteria sought (step 202). Theover-air broadcast acquisition criteria may be stored in memory of theuser computer 18, and may be generated based on the user's 12 physicaladdress information known by the user computer 18. The user computer 18can look up the correct over-air broadcast signal acquisition criteriato be used by the tuner 22 based on the user's address or locationinformation. The user computer 18 may process the over-air broadcastsignal acquisition information 134 and/or set flags in memory toindicate the physical location or broadcast area where the user computer18 is verified to be located, according to the tuner 22 reception of theover-air broadcast signal 14 (step 204). Again, note that the over-airbroadcast signal acquisition criteria does not have to include anover-air broadcast signal that carries the same content as the user 12requested content over the network 20 from the broadcast station server28.

Thereafter, the user computer 18 makes a download or stream request forthe content to the broadcast station server 28 over the network 20,typically using either web-based services or API software previouslydownloaded to the user computer 18 from the broadcast station server 28(step 206). Included within the request is the over-air broadcast signalacquisition information 134 obtained from the tuner 22. The broadcaststation server 28 determines whether the requested content isgeographically restricted (step 208). If so, the broadcast stationserver 28 reviews the over-air broadcast signal acquisition information134 to determine if the tuner 22 is able to obtain information thatcould only be obtained by a tuner located in the same or equivalentgeographically restricted areas for the requested content (step 210).The requested content is then downloaded or streamed over the network 20to the user computer 18 (step 212). The user computer 18 continues toobtain over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134 from thetuner 22 (steps 214, 216, 218) and communicate this information to thebroadcast station server 28 (step 220) (step 224, returning back to step210) to determine if the user computer 18 remains in the geographicallyrestricted area for receiving the requested content over the network 20as opposed to over-air reception (step 212). The process continues untilthe user computer 18 session with the broadcast station server 28 isterminated (steps 224, 226).

It may be desired by the broadcast station server 28 to require the user12 to first establish a user account on the server 28 before contentwill be provided to the user computer 18 over the network 20. A useraccount may be used for various reasons, including but not limited to,identifying the user 12, providing special services to the user 12,obtaining billing information if the user 12 is charged for receivingcontent over the network 20, and/or providing more target advertising tothe user 12 based on demographic information. FIG. 12 is a flow diagramillustrating one example of the user 12 requesting and establishing anew user account on the broadcast station server 28 when a request ismade for content over the computer network 20.

The process starts by the user computer 18 requesting content from thebroadcast station server 28 over the network 20 (step 230). Because theuser computer 18 does not return identifying information about the user12 that indicates the user 12 already has an established account on thebroadcast station server 28 (step 232), the broadcast station server 28generates and sends a new account registration web page to the usercomputer 18 (step 234). The user 12 inputs new account informationrequested in the fields and various prompts in the registration webpage. At this point, the user computer 18 may also request to receiveover-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134 from the tuner 22based on over-air broadcast signal acquisition criteria usinginformation, such as the user's 12 physical address entered by the user12, or other location information for example (steps 240, 242). Theuser's location information may come from answers provided by the user12 in the registration web page. The user 12 may provide their desireduser id and password for subsequent access to the broadcast stationserver 28 so the server 28 can access the user's 12 account. The usercomputer 18 can then determine initially if the user 12 is authorized toreceive content from the broadcast station server 28 over the network20. If not, the process can be discontinued without a user account beingestablished.

If the user computer 18 determines that a user account can beestablished for the user 12 based on verification of the user's 12location, as determined from the over-air broadcast acquisitioninformation 134, the user computer 18 transmits the new user accountinformation to the broadcast station server 28 to establish a useraccount for the user 12 (step 244). The broadcast station server 28creates the user account (step 246) and sends an acknowledgement of theuser account creation to the user computer 18 (step 248).

The broadcast station server 28 may provide content download and/orstreaming services via an API software package downloaded to the usercomputer 18, in lieu of web-based services. The broadcast station server28 may be configured to only allow downloading of an API softwarepackage for content requests over the network 20 after the user 12 hassuccessfully established a user account and has logged in. When the user12 first establishes a user account, the user 12 will be logged inautomatically after receiving the new account establishmentacknowledgement (step 248). In this regard, after a user 12 sends acontent request to the broadcast station server 28 (step 250), thebroadcast station server 28 verifies the validity of the user account(step 252). The broadcast station server 28 sends an API softwaredownload request prompt to the user 12 to first download the APIsoftware to the user computer 18 (step 260). The user computer 18 thenreturns a download request (step 262), and the broadcast station server28 downloads the API software to the user computer 18 (step 264). Theuser 12 will then execute the API software resident on the user computer18 to communicate with the broadcast station server 28 to requestcontent over the network 20 as previously discussed (steps 266-270).

It may also be desired to use additional information indicative of theuser's 12 and the user computer's 18 location in conjunction withover-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134 to determine ifthe user 12 is within the geographically restricted area of therequested content. Over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134may still be received by the tuner 22 even if the user computer 18 isslightly outside the exact geographic boundaries of the broadcaststation's 16 broadcast area. Broadcasting areas provided in an FCClicense may include sharp boundaries and borders that cannot beperfectly matched with broadcast signal transmission equipment andrepeaters 46. Thus, the tuner 22 may still receive the proper over-airbroadcast signal acquisition information 134 even though the usercomputer 18 is technically outside the permitted broadcast area. In thisregard, one method of additionally verifying that the user 12 isauthorized to access the geographically restricted content from thebroadcast station 16 over the network 20 is to verify the user's billingaddress using the user's credit or debit card account information.

Over-Air Signals Outside AM/FM/UHF/VHF Broadcasting Frequencies

The tuner 22 associated with the recipient computer 18 may also oralternatively be adapted to receiver over-air signals havingtransmission frequencies outside AM/FM/UHF/VHF broadcast signalfrequencies. In this regard, the over-air broadcast signal acquisitioncriteria and the over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134would simply be over-air acquisition criteria and over-air signalacquisition information, respectively. The operation of the presentinvention, when using a non-broadcast range over-air signal based on airacquisition criteria, and producing over-air signal acquisitioninformation, may be as or similar described above for an over-airbroadcast signal 14 in particular. The present invention and itsexamples disclosed herein are applicable for any over-air signal thatcan be used to indicate whether a recipient is located in ageographically restricted area for the requested content.

For example, “Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access” (WiMAX).WiMAx is a standard being developed to enable the delivery of last milewireless broadband access as an alternative to cable or DSL broadbandaccess. WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles with a typical cell radiusof four to six miles. WiMAX covers a couple of different frequencyranges. The IEEE 802.16 standard addresses frequencies from 10 GHz to 66GHz. The IEEE 802.16a specification, which is an extension of IEEE802.16, covers bands in the 2 GHz-to-11 GHz range. Either receipt of aWiMAX signal, or a special coding or signal embedded into a WiMAXsignal, may be received over-air by a tuner associated with therecipient computer to determine if the recipient computer is located inthe geographically restricted area for the requested content.

Other examples include signals in the 700 MHz spectrum, which may beutilized to deliver content to mobile phones. The 700 MHZ spectrumincludes signals that can be broadcast by television broadcast stationslike UHF and VHF signals, but is a spectrum that may televisionbroadcast stations have vacated or no longer use for programmingbroadcasts. The present invention is not limited to any particular typeof over-air signal to determine if the recipient's computer is locatedin the geographically restricted area for the requested content

Credit/Debit Card Account Billing Address Look-Up/Verification

The flowchart illustrated in FIG. 13 provides additional user 12 addressdetermination and/or verification in conjunction with the over-airbroadcast signal acquisition information 134 checking provided in theflowchart of FIG. 2 and/or 5. In one embodiment, after the over-airbroadcast signal acquisition information 134 obtained by the tuner 22 isverified as being proper for geographic restrictions for the requestedcontent (in decision 144 in FIG. 5), the user 12 may also be promptedfor their credit or debit card account information to verify the user's12 billing address. The billing address can be used to determine if theuser's 12 residence is located within the geographically restricted areafor the content requested over the network 20. The user 12 may havealready been required to associate a credit or debit card account toestablish their user account, or the credit/debit card accountinformation may simply be requested from the user for billing addressverification after content is requested over the network 20. Note thatthe broadcast station server 28 can be configured to use the user'scredit/debit card account information solely for addressdetermination/verification without billing the user 12.

The user's 12 credit or debit card account information, such as accountnumber, expiration date, and/or billing address information, is receivedfrom the user computer 18 (step 300). The information may be checkedlocally at the user computer 18 or sent over the network 20 to thebroadcast station server 28 for checking. The checking may consist ofverification of the billing address provided by the user 12 whencreating their user account, or may consist of using the card accountinformation to look up the user's 12 actual billing address via adatabase access. Before the user's card account information is checkedagainst a database, the zip code provided by the user 12 may be checked(decision 302). If the zip code is outside of geographically restrictedareas for the requested content (decision 302), the user's 12 requestcan be denied without having to access a card account database (byreturning to step 70 in FIG. 2). If the user 12 provided a zip code thatis within the geographically restricted area for the requested content,the account number and expiration date are used to access a third partydatabase to verify or obtain the user's 12 billing address (step 304).Third parties provide subscription-based services for obtaining and/orverifying a user's 12 billing address based on providing a credit/debitcard account information. If the credit/debit card billing addressand/or zip code can be verified as being in the geographicallyrestricted area of the requested content (decision 306), the broadcaststation server 28 provides the requested geographically restrictedcontent to the user computer 18 over the network 20 (step 140 of FIG.5). If not, the request is denied (step 70 of FIG. 2). Note that thecredit/debit card billing address verification method may be used inaddition to, or in lieu of the over-air broadcast signal acquisitioninformation 134 verification method (see, e.g., FIG. 5).

GPS Receiver

Other methods may be used to determine if the user 12 is located in thegeographically restricted area of the requested content for contentdelivery over the network 20. For example, a global positioning system(GPS) receiver (not shown) may be coupled to the user computer 18,similar to the tuner 22, to determine the exact geographic coordinatesof the user computer 18, in conjunction with or in lieu of receiving andchecking over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134. In oneembodiment, after the over-air broadcast acquisition information 134obtained by the tuner 22 is verified as being proper for thegeographically restricted area for the requested content (e.g. decision144 in FIG. 5), the GPS coordinates of the user computer's 18 areobtained using a GPS receiver (step 308). If the GPS coordinates of theuser computer 18 are outside the geographically restricted area for therequested content 20 (decision 310), access to the requested contentover the network 20 is denied (step 70 of FIG. 2). If the GPScoordinates of the user computer 18 are inside the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested content, the broadcast station server28 provides the requested content over the network 20 to the usercomputer 18 (step 140 of FIG. 5). Note that the GPS coordinates may beused in addition to or in lieu of receiving the over-air broadcastsignal acquisition information 134 verification method (see, e.g., FIG.5).

Reverse IP Address Lookup

Another example of technology that may be used, in conjunction with orin lieu of the over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134checking (provided in the flowchart of FIG. 2 and/or 5) to determine ifthe user computer 18 is located in the geographically restricted areafor the requested content, is use of reverse IP address lookup. When theuser computer 18 accesses the network 20, in the example of an Internetnetwork, the user computer 18 is assigned a unique IP address by the ISP24. The IP address is associated with the physical address of thecompany that purchased the particular IP address or block of IPaddresses. Thus, by accessing a reverse IP database, address to look upthe associated physical address, location information regarding the usercomputer 18 can be determined. Although reverse IP address lookup is notas accurate as other methods, because the ISP 24 may be located in adifferent area from the user computer 18, it is another method that canbe used to control access to geographically restricted content ifdesired.

In one embodiment, as illustrated in flowchart of FIG. 15, after theover-air broadcast acquisition information 134 obtained by the tuner 22is verified as being proper for the licensing area in decision 144 inFIG. 5, the user computer's 18 IP address is obtained (step 320). Thephysical address associated with the IP address used by the usercomputer 18 is obtained from a third party database using a reverse IPaddress lookup service (step 322). If the physical address associatedwith the IP address used by the user computer 18 is outside thegeographically restricted area for the requested content over thenetwork 20 (decision 324), access is denied (step 70 of FIG. 2). If thephysical address associated with the IP address used by the usercomputer 18 is inside the geographically restricted area for therequested content over the network 20, the broadcast station server 28provides the requested content over the network 20 to the user computer18 (step 140 of FIG. 5). Note that the reverse IP address lookup methodmay be used in addition to or in lieu of the over-air broadcast signalacquisition information 134 verification method (see, e.g., FIG. 5).

“Automated Number Identifier” (ANI) Information

Another example of technology that may be used, in conjunction with orin lieu of the over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134checking (provided in the flowchart of FIG. 2 and/or 5) to determine ifthe user computer 18 is located in the geographically restricted areafor the requested content, is use of the telephone number or area codeused by the user computer 18 to connect to the network 20. An example ofthis technology that may be employed by the present invention isdisclosed in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Application No.PCT/US01/08382 entitled “On-line Lottery Game System,” incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

When the user computer 18 accesses the network 20, in the example of anInternet network, any automated number identifier (ANI) is generated bythe telephone company to the ISP 24 supporting the user computer 18connection to the network 18. The ANI is stored as caller identificationinformation. The caller identification information, such as thetelephone number or just the area code portion of the telephone number,is used to determine if the user computer 18 is located in thegeographically restricted area for the requested content.

In one embodiment, as illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 16, after theover-air broadcast acquisition information 134 obtained by the tuner 22is verified as being proper for the licensing area in decision 144 inFIG. 5, the user computer's 18 ANI information is obtained by the ISP 24from a telephone company and/or third party database (step 330). Thephysical address associated with the ANI information (e.g. telephonenumber, or area code of telephone number) is used determined. If thephysical address associated with the ANI information is outside thegeographically restricted area for the requested content over thenetwork 20 (decision 332), access is denied (step 70 of FIG. 2). If thephysical address associated with the ANI information is inside thegeographically restricted area for the requested content over thenetwork 20, the broadcast station server 28 provides the requestedcontent over the network 20 to the user computer 18 (step 140 of FIG.5). Note that the ANI lookup method may be used in addition to or inlieu of the over-air broadcast signal acquisition information 134verification method (see, e.g., FIG. 5).

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of delivering geographically restrictedcontent over a network to a recipient device in response to a contentserver coupled to the network receiving a request for the geographicallyrestricted content, comprising: receiving a request for delivery ofgeographically restricted content from a recipient device over a networkat a content server; continued receiving over-air signal acquisitioninformation from the recipient device indicative of a physical locationof the recipient device; determining if the over-air signal acquisitioninformation indicates a location of the recipient device as being withina geographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content as a condition for continued delivery of therequested geographically restricted content, wherein the geographicallyrestricted area is defined within a broadcast range of at least onebroadcast antenna representative of a geographic area where therecipient device is only permitted to receive the geographicallyrestricted content; and wherein the received over-air signal acquisitioninformation comprises a selectively tuned over-air signal containingembedded information to be extracted for identifying a locationassociated with the at least one broadcast antenna indicative of ageographic area location of the recipient device; and delivering therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network only if the over-air signal acquisition informationindicates a location within the geographically restricted area for therequested geographically restricted content.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the recipient device is comprised from the group consisting of apersonal computer, a network device, a television set top box, a mobiledevice, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and apersonal messaging device (PMD).
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontent server is comprised from the group consisting of a broadcaststation server, a corporate server, an audio server, a video server, anaudio/video server, and a music server.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the network is a network comprised from the group consisting ofa TCP/IP-based network, a dedicated line network, a public network, aprivate network, a communications network, and a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN).
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thegeographically restricted content is comprised from the group consistingof broadcast programming, audio programming, songs, video programming,datacast, and video presentations.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thedelivering the requested geographically restricted content comprisesstreaming the requested geographically restricted content to therecipient device over the network until a connection between therecipient device and the content server is terminated.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the delivering the requested geographically restrictedcontent comprises downloading the requested geographically restrictedcontent to the recipient device over the network.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising setting a flag indicating that the recipientdevice is authorized to receive the requested geographically restrictedcontent over the network if the over-air signal acquisition informationindicates that the recipient device is located in the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested geographically restricted content. 9.The method of claim 1, further comprising the determining if a useraccount has been previously established on the content server for therecipient device after the receiving the request for the delivery of thegeographically restricted content from the recipient device over thenetwork at the content server, and before the delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork if the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content.
 10. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising sending information to the recipient device over the networknecessary for the recipient device to provide to the content server toestablish the user account on the content server, if the user accounthas not been previously established on the content server for therecipient device.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprisingreceiving user account information from the recipient device over thenetwork to establish the user account for the recipient device on thecontent server.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user accountinformation is comprised from the group consisting of a useridentification (ID), a password, a name, an address, and billing accountinformation.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishinga connection between the content server and the recipient device beforethe receiving the request for the delivery of the geographicallyrestricted content from the recipient device over the network at thecontent server.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the connection iscomprised from the group consisting of a web-based services connection,and an Application Programming Interface (API)-based servicesconnection.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising downloadingan Application Programming Interface (API) software application to therecipient device, wherein establishing the connection further comprisesthe API software application establishing the connection between thecontent server and the recipient device.
 16. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving billing account information from therecipient device; determining a billing address associated with thebilling account information; and determining if the billing address islocated within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; wherein the delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content comprises delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork if: the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; and the billing address is locatedwithin the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe determining if the billing address is located within thegeographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content comprises determining if a zip code associated withthe billing address is for an area located within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested geographically restricted content. 18.The method of claim 16, further comprising charging a billing accountassociated with the billing account information for delivering therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the billing accountinformation is comprised from the group consisting of credit cardaccount information, debit card account information, and bank accountinformation.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving anInternet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the recipient device;accessing a database to determine an address associated with the IPaddress; and determining if the address associated with the IP addressis located within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; wherein the delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content comprises delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork if: the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; and the address associated with theIP address is located within the geographically restricted area for therequested geographically restricted content.
 21. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving billing account information from therecipient device; and charging a billing account associated with thebilling account information for delivering the requested geographicallyrestricted content to the recipient device over the network.
 22. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: accessing a database to determinean Automated Number Identifier (ANI) associated with the recipientdevice; and determining if a physical address associated with the ANI islocated within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; wherein the delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content comprises delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork if: the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; and the physical address associatedwith the ANI is located within the geographically restricted area forthe requested geographically restricted content.
 23. A system fordelivering geographically restricted content over a network to arecipient device, comprising: a content server; the content serverconfigured to: receive a request for delivery of geographicallyrestricted content from a recipient device over the network; continue toreceive over-air signal acquisition information from the recipientdevice indicative of a physical location of the recipient device;determine if the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within a geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content as a condition for continued deliveryof the requested geographically restricted content, wherein thegeographically restricted area is defined within a broadcast range of atleast one broadcast antenna representative of a geographic area wherethe recipient device is only permitted to receive the geographicallyrestricted content; and wherein the received over-air signal acquisitioninformation comprises a selectively tuned over-air signal containingembedded information to be extracted for identifying a locationassociated with the at least one broadcast antenna indicative of ageographic area location of the recipient device; and deliver therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network only if the content server determines that the over-airsignal acquisition information indicates a location within thegeographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the recipientdevice is comprised from the group consisting of a personal computer, anetwork device, a television set top box, a mobile device, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), and a personal message device (PMD).
 25. Thesystem of claim 23, wherein the content server is comprised from thegroup consisting of a broadcast station server, a corporate server, anaudio server, a video server, an audio/video server, datacast, and amusic server.
 26. The system of claim 23, wherein the delivering therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient devicecomprises streaming the requested geographically restricted content tothe recipient device over the network until a connection between therecipient device and the content server is terminated.
 27. The system ofclaim 23, wherein the content server is configured to deliver therequested geographically restricted content by downloading the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork.
 28. The system of claim 23, wherein the content server isfurther configured to determine if a user account has been previouslyestablished on the content server for the recipient device after thecontent server receives the request for the delivery of thegeographically restricted content from the recipient device over thenetwork at the content server, and before the content server deliversthe requested geographically restricted content to the recipient deviceover the network if the over-air signal acquisition informationindicates a location within the geographically restricted area for therequested geographically restricted content.
 29. The system of claim 28,wherein the content server is further configured to send information tothe recipient device over the network necessary for the recipient deviceto establish the user account on the content server if the user accounthas not been previously established on the content server for therecipient device.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the content serveris further configured to receive user account information from therecipient device over the network to establish the user account for therecipient device on the content server.
 31. The system of claim 23,wherein the content server is further configured to establish aconnection between the content server and the recipient device beforethe content server receives the request for delivery of geographicallyrestricted content from the recipient device over the network.
 32. Thesystem of claim 31, wherein the connection is comprised from the groupconsisting of a web-based services connection, and an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) based services connection.
 33. The system ofclaim 31, wherein the content server is further configured to downloadan Application Programming Interface (API) software application to therecipient device, wherein the content server is further configured toestablish the connection between the content server and the recipientdevice by receiving a connection request from the API softwareapplication at the recipient device.
 34. The system of claim 23, whereinthe content server is further configured to: receive billing accountinformation from the recipient device; determine a billing addressassociated with the billing account information; and determine if thebilling address is located within the geographically restricted area forthe requested geographically restricted content; wherein the deliveringthe requested geographically restricted content to the recipient devicecomprises delivering the requested geographically restricted content tothe recipient device over the network if the content server determinesthat: the over-air signal acquisition information indicates a locationwithin the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; and the billing address is locatedwithin the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content.
 35. The system of claim 34, whereinthe content server is configured to determine if the billing address islocated within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content by determining if a zip codeassociated with the billing address is for an area located within thegeographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content.
 36. The system of claim 34, wherein the contentserver is further configured to charge a billing account associated withthe billing account information when the content server delivers therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network.
 37. The system of claim 23, wherein the content server isfurther configured to: receive an Internet Protocol (IP) addressassigned to the recipient device; access a database to determine anaddress associated with the IP address; and determine if the addressassociated with the IP address is located within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested geographically restricted content;wherein the content server is further configured to deliver therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network if the content server determines that: the over-air signalacquisition information indicates a location within the geographicallyrestricted area for the requested geographically restricted content; andthe address associated with the IP address is located within thegeographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content.
 38. The system of claim 23, wherein the contentserver is further configured to: receive billing account informationfrom the recipient device; and charge a billing account associated withthe billing account information for delivering the requestedgeographically restricted content to the recipient device over thenetwork.
 39. The system of claim 23, wherein the content server isfurther configured to: access a database to determine an AutomatedNumber Identifier (ANI) associated with the recipient device; determineif a physical address associated with the ANI is located within thegeographically restricted area for the requested geographicallyrestricted content; wherein the delivering the requested geographicallyrestricted content to the recipient device comprises delivering therequested geographically restricted content to the recipient device overthe network if: the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content; and the physical address associatedwith the ANI is located within the geographically restricted area forthe requested geographically restricted content.
 40. A method ofdelivering regulatory-based geographically restricted over-air broadcastprogramming from a broadcast station server over a network to anetworked device in response to the broadcast station server receiving arequest for the regulatory-based geographically restricted over-airbroadcast programming from the networked device, comprising: receiving arequest for delivery of regulatory-based geographically restrictedover-air broadcast programming from a networked device over acommunication network at a broadcast station server; continued receivingover-air signal acquisition information from the networked device overthe communication network indicative of a physical location of thenetworked device; determining if the over-air signal acquisitioninformation indicates a location within a geographically restricted areafor the requested regulatory-based geographically restricted over-airbroadcast programming as a condition for continued delivery of therequested regulatory-based geographically restricted over-air broadcastprogramming, wherein the geographically restricted area is definedwithin a broadcast range of at least one broadcast antennarepresentative of a geographic area where the recipient device is onlypermitted to receive the regulatory-based geographically restrictedover-air broadcast programming; and wherein the received over-air signalacquisition information comprises a selectively tuned over-air signalcontaining embedded information to be extracted for identifying alocation associated with the at least one broadcast antenna indicativeof a geographic area location of the recipient device; and deliveringthe requested regulatory-based geographically restricted over-airbroadcast programming to the networked device over the communicationnetwork only if the over-air signal acquisition information indicates alocation within the geographically restricted area for the requestedregulatory-based geographically restricted over-air broadcastprogramming.
 41. A network device for requesting geographicallyrestricted content over a network from a content server, the networkdevice configured to: send a request for delivery of the geographicallyrestricted content to the content server over the network; continue toreceive over-air signal acquisition information from an antenna coupledto the network device indicative of whether the network device islocated within a geographically restricted area for the requestedgeographically restricted content as a condition for continued deliveryof the requested geographically restricted content, wherein thegeographically restricted area is defined within a broadcast range of atleast one broadcast antenna representative of an area where the networkdevice is only permitted to receive the geographically restrictedcontent; and wherein the received over-air signal acquisitioninformation comprises a selectively tuned over-air signal containingembedded information to be extracted for identifying a locationassociated with the at least one broadcast antenna indicative of aphysical location of the network device; send the received over-airsignal acquisition information to the content server; and receive therequested geographically restricted content from the content server overthe network only if the over-air signal acquisition informationindicates a location within a geographically restricted area for therequested geographically restricted content.
 42. The method of claim 1,wherein the over-air signal acquisition information comprises a WiMAXsignal, the at least one broadcast antenna is a WiMAX broadcast antenna,and the embedded information includes an identification of the WiMAXbroadcast antenna.